Richard Stallman uses “nonfree JavaScript” to describe particular programs a website sends to run in your browser when they do not give you the software freedoms he considers essential. He is criticizing those programs and their licensing—not JavaScript as a language. Stallman explicitly says the language is free and that using JavaScript on a website is not necessarily bad.
What makes website JavaScript a program?
A browser can download and run code from a website without asking you to install a separate app. When that code performs a task in the browser, Stallman treats it as software running on your computer. The fact that it arrived as part of a webpage does not, by itself, make it different from other programs in terms of user control. Stallman explains this argument in “The JavaScript Trap”.
What does “free” mean here?
In this context, “free” means freedom, not price. GNU describes free software in terms of users’ ability to run a program for any purpose, study and change it, share copies, and distribute modified versions. A program can cost nothing and still be nonfree if its license does not grant those freedoms. See GNU’s definition of free software and its explanation of how to apply the criteria.
Why does Stallman object to some JavaScript?
The license may not grant users the relevant freedoms
For Stallman, a program is nonfree if users lack the freedoms to study, modify, and share it. His essay states: “The JavaScript language itself, as a format, is free, and use of JavaScript in a web site is not necessarily bad.” The question is therefore about a particular script and the rights its license grants—not whether a website uses JavaScript at all.
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Executable code is not always usable source code
Users need the program’s preferred form for making changes: code a programmer can understand and modify. A minified or otherwise obscured script may run in a browser, but that does not make it adequate source if meaningful names, spacing, comments, or the original source are unavailable. Stallman argues that access to executable code alone is not enough to study and change a program.
The browser can make the program easy to overlook
A browser may run code supplied by a website without clearly telling the visitor that a program is being executed. Stallman’s concern is partly that this can leave people running software without realizing it or having a meaningful opportunity to inspect or control it.
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How to assess a particular website script
Stallman and GNU’s criteria suggest four useful questions. They do not, by themselves, determine the status of every current script on a website; that requires examining the script, its license, and the source provided for it.
- Is it a substantive program? Distinguish code that performs a program’s work from a trivial interface script.
- Is a free-software license clearly provided? A script’s availability for download is not a substitute for an explicit license granting the relevant freedoms.
- Is the preferred source available? Check whether the source is in a form programmers can understand and modify, rather than only compressed or obscured executable code.
- Does the site work if the script is blocked? Blocking may protect a user from running code they do not want, but some sites may lose features or stop working.
What practical options does GNU describe?
GNU identifies LibreJS as a Firefox add-on designed to block nontrivial nonfree JavaScript. GNU also discusses disabling JavaScript in the browser. These are approaches GNU describes, not guarantees that every nonfree script will be detected or that every site will remain usable. Blocking scripts can break features a site depends on.
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What Stallman’s YouTube example does—and does not—show
In a November 29, 2012 email about YouTube’s HTML5 playback path, Stallman wrote: “That code does not carry a free software license, so it is nonfree. (Any program lacking an explicit free license is nonfree.)” This records his assessment of what he observed at that time. It is a historical example, not evidence about YouTube’s current code or licensing.
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Stallman’s essay, “The JavaScript Trap,” lays out his argument in full. It is also included in the 2015 third edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman.
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